Reducing, or even eliminating, carbon emissions from new buildings cannot by itself meet Government targets for reducing emissions. The refurbishment of existing buildings has an even greater role to play.

As part of the refurbishment of the Tate Gallery in St Ives, two Broag Quinta 115 wall-hung condensing boilers have replaced older boilers in a roof-top plant room. They each have an output of 114 kW and will heat the entire gallery. They were installed by County Heating of Bodmin, whose Brian Matthews particularly remarks on the improved flueing arrangements and higher efficiency compared to the older boilers. These boilers can achieve a gross efficiency of 99% with a flow of 40°C and a return of 30°C and have very low NOx emissions.

As part of the refurbishment of an historic Grade 2 listed building in the City of London, LG Art Cool indoor air-conditioning units have been installed in most of the public areas. The building’s exterior was left untouched while the interior was modernised. Air-conditioning equipment for this project was supplied by specialist distributor Osprey Air. The client for this project selected LG’s FDX inverter-drive multi systems using standard wall-mounted fan-coil units in the small offices. Their use facilitated the installation of the wall-to-wall customised storage units that this business office needs. Each office has its own wireless control.

Elson’s heating and hot-water-services package has been used in the refurbishment of Wallis House in west London to enable apartments to have individual services, with energy provide by hot water from central boiler plant. The approach overcame the constraints posed by the site not being able to use multiple flues for boilers in each apartment and it not being technically possible to install unvented cylinders in them.

The line ‘’Tis lack of kindly warmth’ from Shakespeare’s ‘The life of Timon of Athens’ is no longer appropriate at King Edward VI School in Stratford-upon-Avon, where William Shakespeare is believed to have been a pupil. The reason is that four Clyde sectional boilers have replaced outdated boilers to deliver heating with a seasonal efficiency of over 84%.

As part of a 15-year Private Finance Initiative, Dalkia will invest £2.9 million to refurbish the existing boiler plant at Kingston Hospital and equip it with CHP plant. Carbon-dioxide emissions will be reduced by around 4000 t a year. The agreement includes the subsequent operation and maintenance of the new plant and will provide secure and stable future energy supplies for this 632-bed hospital.

The refurbishment of the Grade 2 listed Baskerville House in Birmingham, dating from 1939, includes such services as chilled ceilings and beams, displacement ventilation via a pressurised floor and lighting controls to maximise the use of daylight.

Meeting the requirements of the Building Regulations when a commercial building is refurbished does not necessarily require condensing boiler plant — and it may not even be the best option. GRAHAM WILLIAMSON explains.

An important element of the building-management system installed by Integrated Control Systems as part of the £5 million refurbishment of 13 Hanover Square in London for Standard Life is the ability to access graphics and data on the performance of the building via the Internet and the transmission of security alarms by e-mail to computers, mobile telephones or a central alarm point.

The £90 million phased refurbishment of the headquarters of Norwich Union in Norwich saw the installation of a wide range of chilled beams from Trox UK. The total value to Trox over all four phases of the project was £3.5 million.

Upgrading existing buildings rather than demolishing them avoids the loss of embodied energy — making a valuable contribution to avoiding carbon emissions. One problem to solve is how to squeeze services into restricted slab-to-slab heights — as GLAN BLAKE THOMAS explains.

Substantial reductions in the cost of providing heating and domestic hot water will be achieved following the installation of Atlantic gas-fired condensing boilers at Mitton Court in Buxton, which provides 60 flats for elderly people. The two R Series boilers each have a output of 153 kW and provide both weather-compensated heating and fast-recovery hot water.

As part of a £750 000 upgrade to its existing brewery equipment, Triple FFF Brewery Company in Hampshire has installed a new steam boiler from Fulton Boiler works. This 60J gas-fired vertical steam boiler replaces an electric boiler and supplies heat for brewing real ale, as well as steam for cleaning and sterilising kegs and process equipment.

When the time came to upgrade its original standby-power system, WRN, which specialises in global radio networks and specialist broadcast services, turned to the original supplier — Scorpion Power Systems.

No-where in the new energy centre of the Natural History Museum is there a balancing or commissioning valve. Vital Energi, which manages the centre believes that using variable-speed drives with all fans and pumps is inherently a far better approach.

MIKE WILLIAMS believes that more powerful and less expensive technologies have overtaken dedicated building-management systems — presenting potential purchasers and users with the ability to have all the useful functionality required, but at a lower price.

Not only does the fully addressable DALI lighting-control system in the CatB fit-out of Allen & Overy’s new London headquarters provide a variety of options for the lighting itself, but it also holds on fan coils in response to presence detection and turns them off when lights go out.

Being involved at an early stage in the Ideapark indoor commercial city near Tampere in Finland enabled TAC to achieve considerable cost savings by fully integrating the building-management and security systems.

The need to install light switches in open-plan areas of a 3-storey office building at Burgess Hill has been eliminated by an Ex-Or lighting-control system which switches lights on and off in response to signals from presence detectors that respond to the smallest movements made by occupants; lights are also dimmed as required. The latest Building Regulations stipulate that light switches should be no further than 6 m away from the workstations of occupants.

Cities and towns of the future will be markedly different from those of today, according to pictures painted at CIBSE’s national conference last month — driven by efforts to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

CIBSE has completed the development of the simulation component of its Low Carbon Consultants Register. Building on the success of the operation and design aspects of the register, the simulation category is aimed at those who carry out energy performance calculations. The scheme applies to Criteria 1 of Part L 2006 for buildings other than dwellings.

London South Bank University, which has trained and educated several generations of building-services engineers, is organising an event to mark the 60th anniversary of the National College of Heating, Ventilating, Refrigeration & Fan Engineering.

The engineering expertise of members of FETA (Federation of Environmental Trade Associations) is already playing a significant part in contributing to the goal of sustainable development. That was the message given by Ben Brown, president of FETA to representatives of Government and end users, consultants, manufacturers, contractors and engineers of all types last month.

OCS Engineer’s contract for the care of full HVAC services for Senator House in Queen Victoria Street in London has been renewed. This high-tech building of 20 000 m2 accommodates several blue-chip clients, including international law firm Eversheds and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Autoflame Engineering has won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for innovation in providing combustion-management solutions for boilers and burners in the commercial and industrial markets. The company was established in 1972 and says it was the first in the world to apply micro-processor technology to control combustion — a development that led to massive savings in fuel and significant reductions in the emissions of harmful gases, long before reducing the world’s carbon footprint became the political focus it is today.

Pupils from Eastlea Community School in Newham in East London gained an insight into the construction industry when their school took part in the coaching scheme organised by the ConstructionSkills team at the Construction Industry Council. This scheme aims to provide pupils with the opportunity to learn about the wide range of professional careers available in the construction industry from a respected local built-environment professional. Monthly coaching sessions are complemented by external visits and practical activities.

Aqua Mechanical Services has been awarded a £4.5 million contract by Amec Construction for the redevelopment of Epping Forest College at Loughton. It involves the design and installation of mechanical, electrical and public-health services associated with the construction of a 15 000 m2 academic facility. Work is due to start on site in August, with completion by June 2008.

To support the future of the industry, Mikrofill and CIBSE have teamed up to provide four bursaries for students on courses in building-services engineering. Roger Cherrington, managing director of Mikrofill, explains, ‘One of the biggest problems we face as a company is recruiting qualified heating engineers. We work in a very specialised field, which requires a unique application of engineering. This area of engineering is growing in demand, and we need to make sure that this demand can be met.

Biomass heating and renewable energy are among a series of National Vocational Qualifications in ‘green’ skills being offered by Business Link throughout the south east of England to help companies train the staff to make the most of the opportunities being created by increasing interest in environmental issues.

Balfour Kilpatrick has been awarded a £5 million contract by Sir Robert McAlpine for the design and installation the mechanical, electrical and plumbing services for an office block in Birmingham city centre.

Inviron has just started working on the installation of M&E services for two 11-storey 14 000 m2 bespoke office buildings at the Baltic Place development in Gateshead Quays in Gateshead. A key requirement of the buildings will be achieving a BREEAM excellent rating. The completion date is June 2008.

MITIE has teamed up with contractor Cowlin Construction for a £31 million redevelopment project at the University of Plymouth. The James Square development is a partnering project between the university and the University Project Partnership. It will be completed in three phases. The first stage will be the major refurbishment of the Mary Newman building, followed by a new residential building and, finally, a new academic building. MITIE is responsible for M&E services contracts and will also supply air-conditioning, heating, ventilation and ICT services to the James Square development.

The Renewable Energy Association now has 500 members with the signing up of the Co-operative Group. This organisation represents the renewable-energy industry, and its chief executive, Philip Wolfe, says. ‘Reaching 500 members in just over five years is an important milestone. We have welcomed several of the major banks and retailers like Marks & Spencer into the REA in recent months. These progressive household brands have realised that to meet their own sustainability objectives, they need direct involvement in renewable energy.’

Consulting engineers and other organisations in the construction industry joined in the recent Flora London Marathon in support of RedR-IHE, a charity founded and funded by engineers and involved in disaster relief and rehabilitation. It has been recognised by the United Nations as a leading agency in the area of water and sanitation.

With demand for its chilled beams expected to set a record for production this year, Trox is expanding its production facilities with a £300 000 investment in a 3700 m2 dedicated facility and warehouse for chilled beams close to its existing factory in Thetford.

The £9.5 million contract for M&E services for two new schools in Oldham has been awarded to Bailey. The work is part of a large PFI scheme worth a total of £97 million. Bailey Teswaine, which specialises in information and communication technology, will carry out data installation work.

Underfloor heating specialist Continental Underfloor Heating has created two new divisions specialising in heat-pump and solar technologies in response to customer demand for a one-stop company to advise on, design and supply integrated energy-efficient heating systems. All three companies operate under the newly created Continental Energy Systems brand.